Blinded by the Light

                                           Photograph by Brian Fender

Being diagnosed with a terminal illness, and given that the human experience has always been about searching for a higher power, it's only natural that people who care for you become concerned for your soul.  Because of who I am and always have been by nature, a non-conformist, I have received heartfelt letters from people who care about me, expressing concern for my soul if I didn't accept their particular way of viewing the spiritual world.  I never became indoctrinated, but rejecting all the external noise was not without fear when I was a young adult, the consequences are made very clear to all of us since we are old enough to absorb them.  Since I moved beyond the fear tactics, it's farcical and frustrating to watch people carry on about things that don't matter.

One of the recent attempts to bring me to the light started a dialogue between myself and a small group of people and really helped me define my belief and it goes something like this:

I see God, the Creator, as the earth we live on. Everything that exists in our world is an expression of the Earth, including our imaginations and desires.  And if what is expressed through this Earth has anything to tell us, it is that diversity is the ingredient of sustaining life.  Why we can't all agree to see the different forms of spiritual expression as affirmations of one another is human failure dictated by ego.  I'm right, I'm better than you, your wrong kind of thinking.  The fact that we largely don't see spiritual expression as a bi-product of our ability to sustain life, provided by the Earth we live on, is a catastrophe for all the other creatures and plant life that live in harmony with the earth!  Inhabitants that our habits and desires destroy and displace.  Habits that I am as guilty of as the next person and can only be changed with awareness, legislation and daily personal decisions.

 The good news is there are a lot of brilliant people out there doing the work.  They are the Noah's of our time and their Arks are holding some amazing things seen in the first piece.  And incredibly inspiring short piece about how the universe is in each of us and the first part of a BBC series on Madagascar that is fascinating!  Enjoy.